Hey,
I flew The Trusty Archer into OSH for the big party. And I continue to believe that the arrival can be crowded, but it is not hard to do safely or expeditiously.
Except, that it, for the 2% of the pilots out there that think reading the NOTAM, flying the procedure as written, and doing what ATC says is for other folks! Sometimes I wonder...
Thursday morning was VFR with good vis and only slightly bumpy. The ATIS gives us wind and an altimeter setting, is announcing Runway 18L and 18R only and instructs us all to listen to Fisk for arrival instructions. Fisk is using the holds, instructing us to hold at Rush Lake, Ripon, and over a spot on the ground outside of Ripon. Every once in a while, they clear a few out of Rush Lake and cycle us all from where we are to the next spot. Things may not be moving fast, but they are moving. We are at 1800 MSL and 90 knots, the faster guys are 2300 and 135 knots, but there are folks that just do not get the flick.
During the hold outside Ripon, we had several airplanes orbiting a town at 90 knots, and watched one airplane blow through all of us at cruise speed, probably wondering why these guys are all flying over this town. A couple minutes later I think it was him who tried to engage Fisk in a discussion about going in and landing at Oshkosh... Well, at least he knew the route and Fisk frequency. They gave him the altimeter setting and told him to go back outside Ripon and hold, caution for many holding airplanes. Good for them. So we saw him roar back out beyond us and join our orbit, 500 feet above us.
Then there were the real loners. Instead of joining another airplane or three holding over a crossroads or a town, they each formed their own hold in between two bigger populated ones with imminent head-on approaches to other airplanes every turn.
There was a twin and a Long-Ez who were in between the layers of slow and fast guys. Maybe they did not reset their altimeters or they thought that they were happy at 110, so they ought to be at an altitude between the other two... You might think that in nearly an hour of orbiting with a few airplanes a couple hundred feet above and a bunch more a couple hundred feet below, they might have figured out that they were the ones running an error... Oh, well, they held altitude well and never really got in anyone's way.
Then there was the Canadian who announced himself to Fisk from 30 miles north and expected to be cleared to the airfield. To their credit, ATC directed him to fly around and hold before Ripon per the procedure. The pilot did not sound happy, but we heard nothing else from him, so I guess he decided to fly it per the NOTAM.
Then we get close are told to fly our base leg towards the gravel pit north of the airfield and turn final to 18R from there. Easy. The airfield, gravel pit, Lake Winebago, and lots and lots of airplanes are all visible from seven miles out, and it looks just like the depictions. Everyone is doing fine. As I turn from the railroad tracks to the extended base, I spot a Centurion higher than us, a good half mile north of my path, and already on final. Now, he has not been in the string of aircraft that we have been in for the last six miles, and I figure that he is operating without a clue... I had just turned to the extended base, so I took a look back along the railroad tracks and the next airplane was easily a mile or more back, so some manuvering won't cramp things. So despite the fact that I am supposed to have right of way, being to the right of him and lower, I apply a bit of power, turn towards him (away from the field) to fall in behind him. I wonder if he even knew what he had done...
I just do not understand where these guys have issues. I mean, the procedure is far from hard. I know several pilots with only a couple hundred hours that have done it, found it easy, and had a good time to boot. Does anybody have any idea why pilots that are supposed to be competent can not just hold altitude and airspeed, fly over the railroad tracks and do what the nice people on the radio say?
I am almost done with this rant. After we landed, we were queued up behind a Vari-EZ to go to GAC, and he stopped at every one of the volunteers and CAP folks to ask for something... He would stop rather abruptly, and usually at the top of a ramp over a paved taxiway or runway, leaving me on grass on the ramp, forcing nearly full throttle with attendant risk to propellor to get moving each time... He did this six times, but I caught on to his tricks after the second one, and left room to accelerate before hitting the ramps.
So, what kind of strange behaviour have you seen, and what kind of warped perceptions or brain damage do you think causes it? Jeez, I hope that I don't get it...
Billski
I flew The Trusty Archer into OSH for the big party. And I continue to believe that the arrival can be crowded, but it is not hard to do safely or expeditiously.
Except, that it, for the 2% of the pilots out there that think reading the NOTAM, flying the procedure as written, and doing what ATC says is for other folks! Sometimes I wonder...
Thursday morning was VFR with good vis and only slightly bumpy. The ATIS gives us wind and an altimeter setting, is announcing Runway 18L and 18R only and instructs us all to listen to Fisk for arrival instructions. Fisk is using the holds, instructing us to hold at Rush Lake, Ripon, and over a spot on the ground outside of Ripon. Every once in a while, they clear a few out of Rush Lake and cycle us all from where we are to the next spot. Things may not be moving fast, but they are moving. We are at 1800 MSL and 90 knots, the faster guys are 2300 and 135 knots, but there are folks that just do not get the flick.
During the hold outside Ripon, we had several airplanes orbiting a town at 90 knots, and watched one airplane blow through all of us at cruise speed, probably wondering why these guys are all flying over this town. A couple minutes later I think it was him who tried to engage Fisk in a discussion about going in and landing at Oshkosh... Well, at least he knew the route and Fisk frequency. They gave him the altimeter setting and told him to go back outside Ripon and hold, caution for many holding airplanes. Good for them. So we saw him roar back out beyond us and join our orbit, 500 feet above us.
Then there were the real loners. Instead of joining another airplane or three holding over a crossroads or a town, they each formed their own hold in between two bigger populated ones with imminent head-on approaches to other airplanes every turn.
There was a twin and a Long-Ez who were in between the layers of slow and fast guys. Maybe they did not reset their altimeters or they thought that they were happy at 110, so they ought to be at an altitude between the other two... You might think that in nearly an hour of orbiting with a few airplanes a couple hundred feet above and a bunch more a couple hundred feet below, they might have figured out that they were the ones running an error... Oh, well, they held altitude well and never really got in anyone's way.
Then there was the Canadian who announced himself to Fisk from 30 miles north and expected to be cleared to the airfield. To their credit, ATC directed him to fly around and hold before Ripon per the procedure. The pilot did not sound happy, but we heard nothing else from him, so I guess he decided to fly it per the NOTAM.
Then we get close are told to fly our base leg towards the gravel pit north of the airfield and turn final to 18R from there. Easy. The airfield, gravel pit, Lake Winebago, and lots and lots of airplanes are all visible from seven miles out, and it looks just like the depictions. Everyone is doing fine. As I turn from the railroad tracks to the extended base, I spot a Centurion higher than us, a good half mile north of my path, and already on final. Now, he has not been in the string of aircraft that we have been in for the last six miles, and I figure that he is operating without a clue... I had just turned to the extended base, so I took a look back along the railroad tracks and the next airplane was easily a mile or more back, so some manuvering won't cramp things. So despite the fact that I am supposed to have right of way, being to the right of him and lower, I apply a bit of power, turn towards him (away from the field) to fall in behind him. I wonder if he even knew what he had done...
I just do not understand where these guys have issues. I mean, the procedure is far from hard. I know several pilots with only a couple hundred hours that have done it, found it easy, and had a good time to boot. Does anybody have any idea why pilots that are supposed to be competent can not just hold altitude and airspeed, fly over the railroad tracks and do what the nice people on the radio say?
I am almost done with this rant. After we landed, we were queued up behind a Vari-EZ to go to GAC, and he stopped at every one of the volunteers and CAP folks to ask for something... He would stop rather abruptly, and usually at the top of a ramp over a paved taxiway or runway, leaving me on grass on the ramp, forcing nearly full throttle with attendant risk to propellor to get moving each time... He did this six times, but I caught on to his tricks after the second one, and left room to accelerate before hitting the ramps.
So, what kind of strange behaviour have you seen, and what kind of warped perceptions or brain damage do you think causes it? Jeez, I hope that I don't get it...
Billski
